Cinders
by LittlelazyCat
Summary: This is what happens when you mix 'Cinderella' and dragons together! Rated T cuz teens are teens.
1. Chapter 1

**This is what happens when I mix up dragons and Cinderella!**

Once there was a place called Drara, a kingdom where multicolored dragons flew through the air, and to the people below it was as average as seagulls at the beach. There were all sorts of dragons, from gigantic snakelike sea-serpents to dragons smaller than cats whose flame was used for lighting the street lamps. There were dragons with huge wings and streamlined bodies mostly used for racing, to slower earthbound dragons that plowed the fields. It was a peaceful land where few were poor and crops were plentiful.

Everybody seemed to be happy there, except for one person. Her name was Cinda, but the other farmhands called her Cinders because of her fascination with dragons. Everybody liked dragons, but Cinda was _obsessed_ with them. All dragons seemed to like and trust her, and she was one of the few people who could make a stubborn dragon complete a task without having to stoop to more severe methods. She could ride a dragon since she could walk.

Her life could've been successful, if it weren't that she was an orphan. Orphans were given to farm owners to work as farm hands, and Cinda's particular boss was a sour woman with an only son. The woman, Sara, was often cruel to her farmhands, making them sleep in the barn instead of in her large mansion-type Victorian house. Anyone who broke her strict rules (except for her_ precious_ 'baby boy') got to clean the stalls of the large dragons (which was quite a horrid experience). Whenever she strutted (yes, _strutted_) about the barn in her custom tailored dragon hide boots, she would glare at the farmhands with an expression like she had taken a bite out of a lemon. Hence the nickname 'Sour Sara'.

Sour Sara's son, who was the same age as Cinda (Cinda was to turn 18 that summer) was as cruel as his mother, whom had plenty of free reign since none of Sour Sara's rules seemed to apply to him. He was a lazy slob, who's only job was making the farmhand's lives, particularly Cinda, as miserable as possible. He would run around the barn, tipping over barrels and splitting feed sacks, and would use a shovel to fling manure at the farmhands he hated the most (Cinda). But this sort of treatment had made Cinda light on her feet, and now she could practically pirouette around the flying dung, and eventually she was so skilled she could catch the manure in a bucket so there would be a smaller mess to deal with when 'Mean Jean' slouched away.

Every summer on her birthday, the royal family would hold a ball to celebrate the careless joy of summer before preparing for winter. Cinda always considered it her birthday present, because the bosses for gone from the afternoon until sometime at one a.m, leaving the farmhands to have a small party themselves without having to worry about breaking any rules or cleaning up after the rampages of Mean Jean.

You can understand that a part of Cinda wanted to go to the ball herself, but Sara would have her cleaning _all_ the stalls for a year for even hinting at the question. And even if she could go, she would be the laughingstock of the whole kingdom showing up in her farmhand clothing. They probably wouldn't even let her through the door when they caught sight of her patched, ripped, stained, and altogether dirty dress and thin leather pants with ice dragon fur boots.

"Come on, Cinders, cheer up! Even if you did go, and even if your outfit was decent, I hear that balls are boring with smelly cheese, slow numbers, and the royal prince only dances with the prettiest girls. No offense or anything, but there's probably a duke's daughter with a much more frilly dress with high heels pulled in a solid gold carriage by Lava dragons." Rattled on one of Cinda's favorite farmhands, Jenna, whom was the closest she had to a friend. She did have a point about the duke's daughter. Only the high ranking classes could afford Lava dragons, which were majestic, sleek, and bright red. They were the pure breeds of the dragon world.

"I know. Besides, high heels must be really uncomfortable. And smelly cheese is disgusting." Cinda faked a smile. But really, she would eat a mound of cheese as big as a land dragon to go to a ball in a frilly dress.

**I'm not that much a fan of smelly cheese. I'll get to the next chappie soonish! **

**Please review! I love getting advice!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Yay, I'm back!**

**OK I do realize that Cinderella fanfiction isn't that popular compared to, say, Harry Potter (which is awesome) or Twilight (what happened to that just being a time of day?) BUT I think this is an awesome story so… thanks for reading and I'd love it if you reviewed!**

Cinda awoke to the other farmhands laughing and yelling "Happy Birthday, Cinders!" Then Jenna materialized out of the jumble and unceremoniously tossed her a badly wrapped package. "Happy Birthday!"

Cinda laughed and ripped of the wrinkly and torn brown paper and frayed string. Sitting within more folds of previously used paper was a necklace that was obviously handmade, a small wooden circle pendant with a dragon roughly etched into it. The string was the remains of a worn out leather belt, thin strips of soft leather braided to make a relatively nice chain. Set in the dragons' eye was a miniscule chip of emerald that matched her eyes.

Cinda stared for a moment before attacking Jenna with a big bear hug. "Thanks so much you guys!" Though it was addressed to everyone, it was mainly directed to Jenna and Alex, who were both skilled in making small semi-elegant things. "Where'd you get the stone?"

"The stonecutter down in the square got a request fer an emerald necklace fer the duchess fer the ball, and he gave meh a leftover bit 'cuz it's your 18th birthday an' all." Said Alex, who seemed quite pleased with himself.

One of the younger, newer farmhands named Mary called up from the rafters, "She's coming!" quickly everyone assumed their morning chores, moving so swiftly that you'd think it was a training encampment for the army's new recruits. Jenna wordlessly tied on Cinda's necklace before scooping up a feed sack and starting filling trays. One of the younger farmhands wordlessly hid the paper and string before grabbing a bucket and heading for the well. Cinda retrieved her shovel and pail, moving swiftly to the first stall she would have to clean. She always started with Emmy, a sleek racing dragon with emerald green scales. Though she loved all dragons, Emmy was her favorite.

"Morning, Em." Muttered Cinda. The dragon affectionately nuzzled her nose against the top of Cinda's head, messing up her already messy chestnut hair as if to say "Morning, Cinders!"

At that moment, Sour Sara roughly pushed the barn doors open, the bang they emitted when they hit the barn wall startled both humans and dragons alike. "Absolutely NO lollygagging today! Everything must be _perfect_ when we leave and_ perfect_ when we return!" Cinda hid her eyeroll behind Emmy's head. She couldn't understand why the barn needed to be the definition of perfection on this day. I mean, it's not like the prince was going to come and escort Sara and Jean to the ball himself!

Speak of the devil. Mean Jean picked the moment to slouch in, a smirk on his ugly face besides his obvious discomfort in the 'regal' outfit he was wearing. No matter what Sara insisted was popular, their outfits with clashing colors, wigs, frills, and buckle shoes with _tights_ made it look like they were circus runaways, in Cinda's opinion. She knew her ideas were shared about fashion by the expertly hidden smiles and silent giggles the other farmhands wore.

"When we come back from the_ ball,_ this place had better be the same as it was when we left for the_ ball_ because us being away at the _ball_ doesn't mean you get freetime!" Snapped Sour Sara, pointedly repeating the word 'ball' while glaring at Cinda. Again she rolled her eyes.

After two hours of Sara and Jean snapping at their heels to hurry up, the two left with a pompous air so thick around them Cinda thought she was going to choke.

She sighed as she watched their overly polished convertible carriage leave, pulled by two elegant river dragons.

**Yay, 2****nd**** chappie done! :P**

**Please review!**


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